The Riven Altar

The danger isn't desire. It's what comes after.

Kasia Sawadzka has spent her life choosing responsibility over impulse. A retinal surgeon in Seattle, she is reliable, disciplined, and fiercely devoted to her family. Rock stars belong to another world. One that's restless, exposed, and allergic to the kind of stillness she depends on. Not an option for women who have to keep their hands steady and their heart intact. Kasia doesn't want to be rescued, she wants something real.

Rafe Ashton is tired of being a symbol. As the frontman of The Riven Altar, one of the world's most enigmatic alt-rock bands, he lives inside myth. Sacrifice, blood, lament, all while privately craving something simpler. Rafe doesn't want to be worshipped. Fame has taught him how easily people want access without understanding, and how badly intimacy can break when it's rushed or consumed.

Love doesn't exist in a vacuum. Touring schedules, family obligations, old wounds, and the cost of choosing someone when the world demands something else all threaten to pull them apart. As the distance between stages and operating rooms grows wider, Kasia and Rafe must decide whether love can survive without guarantees, or if wanting each other is simply another beautiful thing destined to fracture.

What they want is terrifyingly simple: but will they be able to hold onto it?